so as usual, i have spent xmas day playing all the great albums(or songs)that touch me, its something i do when ive had a few beers!
anyway,played some rock, some blues,some reggae (late 60s/70s/early 80s)and i got to thinking - i dont have any albums after bobby bobylon and truths and rights (late 70s/early 80s?) which I consider classics in the reggae(or music in general) field?- and i am not thinking reissues here- i am thinking jamaican music of the last 20 years - a hell of a long time period ! why is this? dont think its ignorance on my part cos i voraciously read all music publications i can get my hands on, so i dont think ive missed anything, OR HAVE I !!
over to you guys - tell me what im missing- i dont expect a deluge

if you havent heard roots radics LPs you should.. barrington levy - poor man style, johnny osbourne's "never stop fighting.. those are i think from 1982.. quite modern.. i dont know if you reached that year yet.. but it was a good year..

I tend to listen to singles not albums so there are probably lots of people here who are far more qualified to talk about this than I am. Still I would consider:
Luciano - Sweep Over My Soul (Jet Star)
Sizzla - Black Woman & Child (Greensleeves)
Jah Cure - Free Jah's Cure (JD)
to name only three to be truly great albums. I can enjoy these as much as anything put out in the 70's.

There are many more great albums. Buju's Till Shiloh album is often described as a classic for instance though I've never "got that" like some people. Did the 70's and early 80's produce better albums? The number of truly great releases was probably higher but it's easy to look at these with rose tinted spectacles and to forget the many less than great releases that came out in this period.

gryffe wrote:so as usual, i have spent xmas day playing all the great albums(or songs)that touch me, its something i do when ive had a few beers!anyway,played some rock, some blues,some reggae (late 60s/70s/early 80s)and i got to thinking - i dont have any albums after bobby bobylon and truths and rights (late 70s/early 80s?) which I consider classics in the reggae(or music in general) field?- and i am not thinking reissues here- i am thinking jamaican music of the last 20 years - a hell of a long time period ! why is this? dont think its ignorance on my part cos i voraciously read all music publications i can get my hands on, so i dont think ive missed anything, OR HAVE I !!over to you guys - tell me what im missing- i dont expect a deluge

Imo, some of the most exciting reggae stuff comes from the late 70s/early 80s period when roots eventually became dancehall and before machines "took over". Even in the post-SlengTeng era till nowadays there's much fine reggae music being made, but all this is a matter of taste of course.

There are still plenty of talented artists/musicians in the reggae field, imo. It could be said though that a larger percentage of reggae's output of today is 'average' compared to the past. And that an 'average' tune from the golden era (late 60s/70s/early 80s) is much better than a recent/contemporary 'average' tune due to the real-band (non-digital) musicianship. However, there's still much quality stuff that shines through.

Do I really have to go into telling that modern day reggae music, and certainly later 80's, early 90's is often as good as many 70's reggae releases and that people who think all good reggae stopped back then have a very narrow-minded view on the music and are mainly romanticizing that period? Nah, don't feel like going there again, usually a useless discussion anyway.

Back to my Best Of 2004 new releases compilation. 3 CD's already and not finished yet.